Lawful Evil

[Xyanna]

I'm playing an alignment that's a little out of my wheelhouse right now. It's a lot of fun, but I've run into a roadblock. I'm familiar with the concept of Lawful Evil. The thing I'm stuck on however, is: Why would a Lawful character ever follow a god that was highly Chaotic? It seems like their views would clash.

I know that Cyric, Shar, Malar, and Mask (This one I really don't get!) all can have Lawful Evil followers. I just don't understand what motivation a Lawful character would have to join a faith with such strong chaotic tendancies.

Cyric:

Cyric is the god of murder, strife, lies, intrigue, deception and illusion.
He blesses the deceitful and the underhanded, favouring those who steal and
who backstab their foes, while damning those who aid others or respect the
dead.

Shar

Her heart longs for a return to the calm of nonexistence, and
she schemes from the shadows to tear down establishments, destroy order,
and undermine all creation.

Malar
I can kind of see this one. Though he's the only fury that accepts LE, I guess this would be sort of an anti-ranger. The thrill seeking big game hunter, sort of character?

Mask

Mask is the god of thieves, thievery, and shadows. Followers of Mask are
glorified by him for their undercover actions. They are favoured when they
steal, filch and backstab, as well as when they sacrifice to their Lord.

So, how do you justify a Lawful Evil character choosing to follow a Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Neutral god? I tend to build my characters under the assumption that they will find their way to a god of their choice, and they aren't predestined from creation for a certain faith. I'm really interested in getting feedback on how other people view LE's following CE's, and the rationality of it.

[Kinni]

The "lawful"-ness is determined by the character's sense of principles, in my understanding. This would suggest a character that is evil by normal standards, but has his/her own code to which he adheres. Perhaps a thief that steals only from the rich. Or, perhaps a Cyric follower who only murders a certain group/type to honor his/her god. The lawful nature suggests a certain rigidity, you can depend on the character to follow an certain set of rules they have designed for themselves, be them good or evil.

That is just my impression, though.

[Harroghty]

I would check out this link to easydamus.com for some depth on the alignment itself as a starting place.

I am not sure that one's personal alignment needs to match that of a chosen Power.

First, consider, for example, how Cyric manifests his chaotic nature: he pits the lawful hierarchies of his faith against each other. Cyricists have a militant structure (or structures) that would delight any LE PC, especially because those lawful agencies visit chaotic violence upon those lesser people who maybe are not worthy of the PC's standard.

Secondly, the will of a chaotic Power is a law unto itself and might allow the LE character to step outside his rigid honor code by providing a higher authority to justify what would otherwise only be his private desires.

[Diritas]

Bane makes more generic sense for a number of LE characters, but every person is different and many people follow a walk of life you wouldn't particularly expect. Diritas serves Cyric not because they think the same, or because Diritas thrives on the deceit and the murder. Diritas serves Cyric because he has true faith in his belief that Cyric is the One True God. That Cyric will rule all things for all time, and that serving anyone else is downright foolish. The fact that Diritas enjoys some good ol' murderin' is just gravy. It's worth noting that most of Diritas' murder is done publicly, and legally(ish). Most. Overall he's lawful- not to everyone's standards, but he's lawful.

Just trying to give an example of someone who fits the category. I'm not quite sure how much better to address this question, but if you want to field specific queries about it feel free to PM me or post them here(if they'd not be too revealing).

[Rhangalas]

Lawful Evil just means you do all of your evilness within the boundaries of the law of any given location and usually have some sort of reason or "code" for doing so. One of the underlying reasons for following the laws for most LE is so they can use those same laws as protection. Your alignment generally doesn't have to match the deity unless the dogma demands it (which is often the case for clergy).

Mask and Shar are both NE by the way.

[Bellayana]

I recently started a lawful evil character as well, coming from chaotic characters it is a different feel. I am inclined to agree with Rhagalas when he states about doing evil deeds within the boundaries of the law. I would even go as far to say manipulate or distort the law to their will. I hope I'm not overstepping but one of my favorite LE characters in the game is General Lathlain of Cyric. If you ever get the privilege to rp you'll see there is a sort of regal decorum to him but you know he is as cruel as some horrible beast that I couldn't possibly think of...but just evil. I think that the alignment reflects the personality of the character and on some deeper level of character reflection I can understand where this post came out. Great topic!